never been more frustrated with washington, and one of the reasons why that is is that over the past five years, we've seen an unprecedented pattern of obstruction in congress that's prevented too much of the american people's business from getting done. all too often, we've seen a single senator or a handful of senators choose to abuse arcane procedural tactics to unilaterally block bipartisan compromises or to prevent well qualified patriotic americans from filling critical positions of service in our system of government. at a time when millions of americans have desperately searched for work, repeated abuse of these tactics have blocked legislation that might create jobs. they've defeated actions that would help women fighting for equal pay. they have prevented more progress than we would have liked for striving young

immigrants trying to earn their citizenship. or its blocked efforts to end tax breaks for companies shipping jobs overseas. they have even been used to block common sense and widely supported steps to protect more americans from gun violence, even as families of victims sat in the senate chamber and watched. and they prevented far too many talented americans from serving their country at a time when their country needs their talents the most. it's harm to our economy. and it's been harmful to our democracy. and it's brought us to the point where a simple majority vote no longer seems to be sufficient for anything. even routine business through what is supposed to be the world's greatest deliberative body. i realize that neither party has been blameless for these tactics. they have developed over years and it seems as if they have continually escalated.

but today's pattern of obstruction, it just isn't normal. it's not what our founders envisioned. a deliberate and determined effort to obstruct everything, no matter what the merits, just to refight the results of an election, is not normal. and for the sake of future generations, we can't let it become normal. so i support the step, a majority of senators today took to change the way that washington is doing business. more specifically, the way the senate does business. what a majority of senators determined by senate rule is that they would restore the long-standing tradition of considering judicious and public service nominations on a more routine basis. here's why this is important. one of a president's constitutional responsibilities is to nominate americans to positions in the executive and

judicial branches. over the six decades before i took office, only 20 presidentials nominees to executive positions had to overcome filibusters. in just under five years since i took office, nearly 30 nominees have been treated this way. these are all public servants who protect our national security, look out for working families, keep our air and water clean. this year alone, for the first time in history, senate republicans filibusters a esidp secretary of defense who used to be a former republican senator. they tried everything they could to hold up our epa administrator. they blocked our nominee for our top housing regulator at a time where we need more help for more families to afford a home and prevent what has caused mortgage meltdowns from happening again. in each of these cases, it's not been because they opposed the person. that there was some assessment that they were unqualified, that

there was some scandal that had been unearthed. it was simply because they opposed the policies that the american people voted for in the last election. this obstruction gets even worse when it comes to the judiciary. the constitution charges the president with filling vac aenlss to the federal bench. every president has exercised this power since george washington, first named justices to the supreme court in 1789, but my judicial nominees have waited nearly two and a hoofl testimonies longer to receive senate votes on the floor than those of president bush. the ones who eventually do get a vote, generally are confirmed with little if any descent, so this isn't obstruction on substance. on qualification. it's just to gum up the works. this gridlock in congress causes gridlock in much of our criminal and civil justice systems. you have seen judges across the

country, including a bush appointed chief justice of the supreme court, say these are vital vac aenlss that nivacanci filled and this gridlock has not served justice. senate republicans again denied a yes or no vote for three highly qualified americans to fit the spots, even though they have the support of the majority of senators. four of bush's six nominees to the court were confirmed. four of five of my nominations have been obstructiuobstructed. so the vote today is an indication that a majority of senators believe enough is enough. the american people's business is far too important to keep falling prey day after day to washington politics. i'm a former senator. so is my vice president. we both value any senate's duty

to advise and consent. it's important, and we take that very seriously, but a few now refuse to treat that duty of advise and consent with the respect it deserves. it's no longer uses as a responsible way to govern. it's used at a reckless and relentless tool to grind all business to a halt. that's not what our founders intended and certainly not what our country needs. what is at stake here is not my ability to fulfill my constitutional duty. what's at stake is the ability of any president to fulfill his or her constitutional duty. public service is not a game. it is a privilege. and the consequences of action or inaction are very real. the american people deserve better than politicians who run for election telling them how terrible government is, and then devoting their time in elected office to trying to make

government not work as often as possible. now, i want to be clear. the senate has actually done some good bipartisan work this year. bipartisan majorities have passed common sense legislation to fix the immigration system and upgrade the ports. it's passed a farm bill that helped rural communities and vulnerable americans. legislation to protect people being fired. we know there are folks there, republican and democrat, who want to get things down. and frankly, privately, they have expressed to me their recognition that the system in the senate had broken down and what used to be a sporadic exercise of the filibuster had gotten completely out of hand. i believe, i'm confident that that spirit will have a little more space now. i want us to make sure that we can do more work together to grow the economy and to create

jobs. and if there's differences in the senate, then debate should be had. people should vote their conscious. they should vote on behalf of their constituents, but they should vote. that's what they're there to do. and ultimately, if you have a majority of folks who believe in something, then it should be able to pass. you know, americans work hard. they do their jobs and they expect the same from everybody who got sent here. and as long as i have the privilege of being in this office, i'll keep working as hard as i know how to make sure that the economy is growing and we're creating good jobs and we're widening prosperity and opportunity for everybody. and i know that that's what the majority of folks in the senate believe as well. but the gears of government have to work. and the step that the majority of senators took today, i think, will help make those gears work just a little bit better. thanks very much, everybody. and now, josh will answer all of your questions.

>> does this mean political war? >> there he is, the president of the united states speaking for almost nine minutes, defending, strongly supporting the decision by the democrats in the senate to go ahead and change the rules of the game as far as those nominees are concerned. no longer allowing that 60-vote threshold to be required to break those so-called filibusters, but now a 51-vote, simple majority, will get the nominees confirmed for their positions on the bench and in the judicial branch of the u.s. government as well as the executive branch nominees. gloria borger is still with us. dana bash is up on capitol hill, brianna keilar is over at the white house. candy crowley is joining us as well. let me start with you, candy, quickly. get your reaction to what is going on. you've covered congress, you've covered the white house. this is a big deal. this is a major change the democrats pushed through the senate today. >> it is. and let's face it, though, when

the president first started talking, i thought, wait a second, i think he misunderstands what happened here because thus far, this applies to appointee -- sorry, to nominees in the judiciary and executive levels except for the supreme court. it does not apply to the legislation that he went through at the very beginning. you know, they've blocked gun legislation, blocked this, blocked that. legislation is still going to take 60 votes to put that on the floor and get past a filibuster. that remains. i do think it's interesting that, yes, people have voiced frustration, you know, sort of across the board with how congress is working, but their frustration was aimed at a lot of these bills the president brought up. a lot of the sense that the senate wasn't doing anything, not particularly because they couldn't get three seats filled on the circuit court in d.c. this, i think, we should also remind people why it's called the nuclear option. that's because it's expected to make things even worse.

obviously, the democrats felt they had no other choice, having blocked three nominations for the same court, but i don't think it's going to get better when it comes to legislation. >> a really poisonous atmosphere in washington. already has been, but it's going to even become more intense now. stand by for a moment. we'll take a quick break. continuing the breaking news coverage right after this. i started part-time, now i'm a manager.n. my employer matches my charitable giving. really. i get bonuses even working part-time. where i work, over 400 people are promoted every day. healthcare starting under $40 a month. i got education benefits. i work at walmart. i'm a pharmacist. sales associate. i manage produce. i work in logistics. there's more to walmart than you think. vo: opportunity. that's the real walmart. plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day men's 50+ is a complete multivitamin

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with odor free aspercreme. powerful medicine relieves pain fast, with no odor. so all you notice is relief. aspercreme. president obama, you just heard him say enough is enough. he's finished with all the republican efforts to stonewall some of his nominees supporting the democratic decision, the majority decision in the senate to go ahead and change the rules of the game as far as confirmation processes are

concerned. no longer requiring 60 votes to break a filibuster but 51 votes right now. the democrats have 55 members in the senate to 45 republicans. so they can obviously deal much more easily with those confirmation processes. once again, gloria borger, our chief political analyst with us, dana bash, the state of the union anchor candy crowley. let's go to capitol hill and get the reaction. i don't know if there's reaction to what we just heard from the president, from the republicans, dana, but i assume it's going to be very negative. >> absolutely. because just as candy was pointing out, which is crucial to underscore, the democrats who run the senate still have a 60-vote threshold they need to overcome for any legislation, just run of the mill legislation, not the nominations that the president is sending forward, both for his cabinet and his executive branch or the judicial branch. and you know, it was already tough to get basic legislation through the united states

congress. and some of the republicans who had been most eager to work with democrats on legislation, for example, lindsey graham. he may be in a tough re-election campaign in a tough primary race back home, but he's been one of the few to steck his neck out and say, for example, i'll work on immigration reform. he has said since the change has taken place a couple hours ago, that this is going to be a disaster for cross-party relations. john mccain, who has been of late willing to work across the aisle, has said the same thing. so really is going to be interesting to see how and weather that really plays out because on the flipside, you have the democrats leadership saying, how could it possibly be that much worse than it is now? if you are going -- a few republicans are going to obstruct, okay. you're obstructing now, so this the best that they say they can do in order to get the senate wheels moving at least in some part of the system, and in this

case, it's the president's nominees, and of course, it's important for the president legacy wise, because who he puts on the bench, it's a lifetime appointment. that's a very important legacy for any president. >> gloria, as the president just before the president made his reaction, his statement reacting to what the senate has decided for several hours, republicans were arguing the democrats were doing this, harry reid was doing this, because they wanted to change the subject from obama care, the affordable care act, to implementation of that, to get that out of the way so they were changing the subject for political reasons. that's one of the arguments the republicans have been making today. >> i think this is more evidence of the extreme dysfunction of the united states senate. and it is as if the democrats and republicans have just said, okay, let's get a divorce, but we still have to try to live together, and i don't see how that really works because once you do this, as john mccain warned, republicans could try and filibuster everything else. and as the president even eluded

to in his speech, he said there's enough blame to go around, because he understands when the democrats were not in charge, they were on the other side of this issue. so it's -- you know, where you stand depends on where you sit. >> let me ask candy because she's been on capitol hill over these years. candy, a lot of democrats i know were relectabout to support the use of the so called nuclear option because they feared if the democrats one of these days sooner rather than later potentially are in the minority, this could come back to haunt them. >> absolutely, it could. and if you look during the bush years, there was some thought -- there's bipartisanypocrisy on this. we'll put that out there. republicans once argued, hey, we need to rein in the filibuster because president bush found his nominees weren't passed, and democrats were arguing, including senator barack obama, it would halt democracy, make

the admot misfear so poisonous. and absolutely, i think for the immediate future, this poisons an already poisoned atmosphere. i think the republicans are right on this score. that democrats do intend to run next year on obstructionist republicans. we can't even get anything done. we had to take this move that, you know, for a generation, r e rules in the senate have been this way, but we had to take this unprecedented action because we can't get anything done. therefore, vote for democrats in the senate, not republicans. there is obviously a huge political element to this. it is also true that republicans feel they have been on a roll because obama care has been so badly bashed. so there's that element going in. but i also wouldn't in any way underestimate the power of these judgeships as dana alluded to, that many of these are lifetime

appointments. and this is not just about filling slots, although, you know, that's certainly a lot of what we have heard. this is about the power in those courts. and democrats looked at the d.c. circuit court. republicans looked athe d.c. circuit court, sow that right now the balance is there. certainly, some of the part-time members, the balanceor conservatives, they don't want to upset that, but democrats do. so there's politics all the way through this. and it is also true that both sides have argued both sides. >> and you know, to echo what candy is saying, in the language the president used, which i found quite partisan, he used a lot of the same language that he was using during the shutdown fight, which is that this has been a deliberate effort to block everything and to refight the results of an election. which is what we heard when republicans were trying to defund obama care. he was saying, looking the election was decided. obama care was passed. it was upheld by the supreme court. you can't relitigate that.

what he is effectively saying is look, i won the election. i can nominate who i want to these judicial appointments. and you ought not to be able to block me in the way that you are now blocking me. he said they do not treat, advise, and consent with the respect it deserves. i would argue if you're a member of the bush administration, you might have said exactly the same thing about the democrats as candy points out. there's a lot of hypocrisy. >> there certainly is. gloera, thank you. candy, thanks to you. dana, the story is not going to go away. we'll have a lot more. >> we're following the cargo plane we have been talking a lot about. it just successfully lifted off from that too-short runway in kansas. there you see it taking off. all good, all fine, fortunately on that score. brooke baldwin, by the way, is going to have much more on that in a minute. that's it for me. i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern

in "the situation room." newsroom with brooke will continue right after this break. stick with innovation. stick with power. stick with technology. get the flexcare platinum. new from philips sonicare.

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all right, great to be with you on this thursday. i'm brooke baldwin. i want to begin this hour in wichita, kansas, with a jumbo jet landed on a runway that was, by the way, the wrong runway. was too small to handle its size. now, it has just taken off minutes ago. this is a boeing 747. a dream lifter, operated by atlas air. it was on its way to mcconnell air force base, but somehow, it ended up landing about 12 miles

away at jabara airport, on a runway that is about two thirds of the length of the runway that it should be for this kind of plane to take uf. rene marsh is joining me now as we're watching the takeoff. so far as i'm looking at the video with you, rene, success? >> yeah, looked pretty good to me. it was pretty smooth, brooke. it happened, i would say, just about eight, nine minutes ago. and the flight is a pretty short one. we're talking about a roughly eight-hour flight to get to its -- i'm sorry, eight-minute flight to get to its destination. but really, the investigation begins as to what went wrong here. how did this plane end up at the wrong airport? that's what the faa is going to try to figure out. they want to know if the pilots were using their navigational systems or a visual approach. if that was the case, did they mistakenly think that they were landing at the correct airport? so lots of unanswered questions, but what is really clear is there was a lot of confusion in the cockpit.

we have a little bit of that sound of the pilots talking to the control tower. >> you know what airport you're at? >> we think we have a pretty good pulse. >> it appears you are at jabara. >> say again? >> we saw the plane on the radar, and it appears you're at jabara airport. >> all right, so clearly, the pilot didn't even know exactly where he had landed. we can tell you that he was supposed to land at mcconnell air force base. but instead, landed at that airport about roughly 12, 10 miles away. here's a side-by-side comparison showing you the difference in the runways. jabara runway is about half the length of the intended airport's runway, so big difference there, brooke. but we saw the video, and it looked pretty smooth. >> just quickly as we look, that

really tells the story, the pictures of the yellow lines are the two different runways. and we're talking a pretty big plane. do we knoet what they did to pull it off? >> the engineers looked. it's all about the weight of the plane. they looked at a few factorsering the weather, how heavy was the plane, how long is the runway. they crunched the numbers and figured out it was safe to take off. we just saw the video there. so far, no word of any problems. >> rene marsh for me in washington, d.c., thank you very much. >> something else we're watching for you today. kennedy cousin michael skakel is now a free man. he has just posted $1.2 million in bail. here he is. this is from moments ago. a judge in connecticut said just a short time ago, but here's the deal. he cannot leave connecticut without court approval. his murder conviction in the 1975 death of martha moxley was overturned last month and he was granted a new trial.

moxley mfs mother said she's disappointed at the decision. >> still ahead here, really just a stunning story. three women rescued said they were held captive for more than 30 years. we have new details today on how and where police found them. plus, we take you to washington. the political implications of the so-called nuclear option. what does this mean for the future of this hyperpartisanship in washington? how does this historic rule change change things for governing in our nation's capitol. we have a senator standing by, richard blumenthal from connecticut, standing by on capitol hill. we'll talk to him next. ♪ [ male announcer ] laura's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today her doctor has her on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. and our giant idaho potato truck is still missing. so my dog and i we're going to go find it.

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partisan pattals in washington just made history. senate democrats passed what's been dubbed the nuclear option, which basically ditches traditional rules for some filibusters that apply to executive nominees. a filibuster, that's how the minority party can essentially hit the brakes and stall senate business. let's hear how senators are reacting here. i want to bring in senator richard blumenthal, democrat from connecticut. senator blumenthal, nice to see

you. welcome. >> thank you, brooke. >> the rules in our nation's government and in the u.s. senate really considered sack u rusanct. we heard about this partisanship. how would you characterize what happened. >> >> it's a historic step, but it's very much in the right direction because it will enable the senate to get things done. it will promote government working as the majority of americans expect it to work. the overwhelming majority of americans expect majority rule. i came to the senate and one of my first votes was actually to abolish the filibuster, to make it history. i'm glad we now will be able to avoid a constitutional crisis. we were avoiding the duty we had to take up or down votes. >> you were saying and many of you colleagues are saying this is a step in the right

direction. you're new to this position, but many say this will have a chilling effect. case in point, veteran senator john mccain had this to say. take a listen. >> i reached out to them for the past two weeks, i reached out to them. i spent an hour in harry reid's office. i reached until my arm aches. okay? >> and they're saying -- >> they're governed by these hard over newer members of the democratic senators who have never been in a minority, who are primarily driving this issue. and they succeeded, and they will pay a very, very heavy price for it. >> senator, you are one of those newer members. i presume you wouldn't say senator mccain is wrong, correct me, but if that's the case, tell me why? >> i have very, very sincere and immense respect for john mccain

for his service in the senate, to the nation in the military, but the agreements that have been forged in the past, in 2005, for example, simply haven't worked. that agreement was that there would not be a filibuster for the judicial nominees, except in, quote, exceptional circumstances,ent kwoedz. that agreement is in tatters. so is the one more recently concluded that avoided this so-called nuclear choice. i think we need to move in this direction so we can fulfill our constitutional duty to have up or down votes. remember, cloture was necessary to get to a vote. i think today is a very profoundly important and historic step in the right direction. >> what about also hearing from leader mitch mcconnell, another leading republican, saying this is nice timing. this is a distraction from the mess that was the obama care rollout. your response? >> not a distraction. in fact, it will enable us perhaps to improve obama care.

there are repairs that may be necessary that have been blocked by the filibuster's abuse. remember, it's the abuse of the filibuster rule. it's been used in an unprecede t unprecedented number of instances to keep vacant an unprecedented number of vacancies. 90 vacancies across the country, and we face a crisis. i think we can move to vote. we can get things done. that's what the american people want. they want action to fix those problems. >> okay, senator richard blumenthal. thank you so much for your side. coming up next hour, we'll talk to a member of the senate from the other party, from the republican party, senator orrin hatch will be joining me to explain his perspective. i'm sure it will be quite a different opinion. still ahead, remembering john f. kennedy has the nation prepares to mark the 50th anniversary of his assassination. you are about to see something not seen in half a century. rare artifacts from that day in

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when jacqueline kennedy lost her husband 50 years ago tomorrow, she wasn't the only woman made a widow that day by lee harvey oswald. you see, jfk's assassin also gunned down a police officer, jd

tippet. it was his murder that led to oswald's arrest. his wife reached out to kennedy's wife in the dpas following the assassination. she said, may i add my simp aelth to those all over the world. my personal loss in this great tragedy prepares me to sympathize more greatly with you. the boston globe reports mrs. kennedy wrote back. there is another bond we share. we must remind our children at all times what brave men their fathers were. this is one of the many artifacts revealed for the first time at the jfk library and presidential museum in boston as it observed the 50th anniversary of kennedy's death. joining me now, the curator of the museum, stacey. nice to see you. before we get into some of these just fascinating artifacts that you all have, i find it

interesting that your museum has been open since 1979, but this is the first time you're dedicating an entire exhibit to the assassination itself, is that right? >> that's right. typically, we observe -- we celebrate president kennedy's life at the library, but on the 50th anniversary, we felt it was a time to honor that moment and help people remember that very pivotal and tragic moment in time. >> we see right here, this is the leather saddle. let's talk about some of the pieces. tell me about the saddle and its significance. >> well, of course, after the president was assassinated, the nation went into shock, and just watched on television in the coming days the ceremonial tributes. and some of the things that they saw were the saddles, sword, and boots that the riderless horse had following the president's casket and the funeral

procession. >> there is also the flag that was draped on the president's coffin, the green beret left at the gravesite. what is the piece that is most significant for you and how did you choose these? >> well, i have to say, there aren't a large number of artifacts that we have from the president's funeral. i think the flag, which was actually unfolded over the president's casket at bethesda naval hospital shortly before he came to the white house for the final homecoming where he lay in repose and then remained on the casket throughout all of those days of -- throughout the state funeral and then was folded and presented to jacqueline kennedy at the grave site, i think that seeing that in the exhibit case had the most power for me. >> incredible, coming so close to these pieces of history from this day 50 years ago. just to remind our viewers, his is boston at the jfk

presidential library and museum. it opens tomorrow, and a reminder to you as well, do not miss a special airing of the assassination of president kennedy. it airs tonight at 9:00 eastern here on cnn. coming up next, i tell you, when you hear the story, it sounds eerily similar to the ariel castro case out of cleveland, but this time, police have rescued three women who appear to have been held captive for more than three decades. details today on how, where police found these three ladies. so, this board gives me rates for progressive direct and other car insurance companies? yes. but you're progressive, and they're them. yes. but they're here. yes. are you...? there? yes. no. are you them? i'm me. but those rates are for... them. so them are here. yes! you want to run through it again? no, i'm good. you got it? yes. rates for us and them -- now that's progressive. call or click today.

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we're getting more details about this horrifying tale of imprisonment and survival. a couple in their 60s have been arrested today. this is what they're accused of. holding three women captive, imprisoned in their south london home for more than 30 years. >> three women, a 69-year-old from malaysia, a 57-year-old from ireland, and a 30-year-old

british woman, were all rescued. all three women were highly traumatized and were taken to a place of safety where they remain. we have established that all three women were held in this situation for at least 30 years. they did have some controlled freedom. the human trafficking unit of the metropolitan police deals with many cases of servitude and forced labor. we have seen some cases where people have been held for up to ten years, but we have never seen anything of this magnitude before. >> police say the 30-year-old british woman had no contact with the outside world for her entire life. cnn's max foster asked the detective about the youngest of these three women and the nature of their years and years in captivity. >> what we have established is that it's likely that the 30-year-old has spent her entire life in servitude. >> was born in the house? >> well, was born and taken into

that environment. >> the charity is saying there isn't any evidence of sexual abuse. >> at this time, we're very early in the investigation. we're not investigating offenses of a sexual nature. there haven't been any arrests of a sexual nature. >> slave labor, you're looking at. >> absolutely, yes. >> we will take you live to london for much more on the developing story, captive for more than 30 years. >> before three-time olympic champion gale deavers became the fastest woman in the world, she had to face a life-threatening hurdle. dr. sanjay gupta has her story in today's human factor. >> she got away quickly. >> for 15 years, she was one of the fastest women in the world. known almost as well for her long fingernails as her olymp, and world championships. >> things were going very well. i set an american record. >> she qualified for her first olympics in 1998, but when it came time to conpete, her body

failed her. >> i ran slower than the first time i ever ran when i ever stepped on the track. >> her hair started falling out. her once long nails broke. and she started losing a lot of weight. >> at my worst, i was under like 85 pounds. >> her symptoms continued for nearly three years without a diagnosis. >> i actually had covered up the mirrors in my house because i didn't want to see myself. >> just when deavers was giving up. >> it wasn't a good time. >> her specialist confirmed graves disease. an autoimmune disease of the thyroid grand. she got radiation treatment, but as a side effect, she developed painful blood blisters on her feet. >> i stopped walking because it hurt so bad. >> it was so bad, doctors nearly amputated her feet. >> i remember sitting there going, oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh. >> eventually, doctors found a way to treat them, and a year and a half later, deavers war back in her running shoes competing in the 1992 olympics.

>> it was just seeing that fing line and never losing sight of it, no matter what obstacles you have to go through. >> deavers won gold. >> ready, go. >> today, she's married with two children and helping other kids achieve their goals. >> what is it that happened to me in my life that i can share with somebody else? you know. just to help them make it through. >> dr. sanjay gupta, cnn, reporting. they are back. get ready for monty python's greatest hits. >> we just thought it would be fun to try and do one and see if we were still funny. and that is our intention, just so far. >> so, yeah, you get to be the judge. and our resident brit, richard quest, is about to join me life to talk about the big reunion. let's say mr. quest is apparently not a fan.

this should be interesting. is this the bacon and cheese diet?

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okay, monty python fans, stand by for inside jokes. it may take more than a holy hand grenade to stop monty python. they announced they're making a comeback, unlike this norwegian blue parrot.

>> polly! polly parrot, speak out. polly! >> the five remaining members of the group are reunited for their very first live stage show since 1980. they'll reform next year on july 1st in london. they say the show will be a mix of new material, some of their classic routines from the cult classic movies and tv show, monta python's flying circus. >> wegist thought it would be fun do do one and see if we were still funny. that's our intention. >> people really do want to see the old hits, but we don't want to do them exactly in a predictable way, so it's going to be sort of a mix up. >> absolutely. >> or is it tweeting? i get confused. >> from new york, host of quest means business, our resident brit, mr. richard quest. so can you contain your excitement here, richard? >> all right, look, the fact is

that these men, i mean, monty python was on television in britain when i was 7. 1969 to 1974. there was only about 45 episodes made and then you had the films and they went their own separate way in 1983. there are various reasons why they're said to be coming back together. some suggest it's for money. others say for artistic lyleance. some believe this is just a good idea. but there you see, the picture you're looking at there is one of the most famous sketches. it comes from the ministry of silly walks. i have to admit, i never thought it was that phfunny. i can hear people throwing things at their television and saying all sorts of things, but it was an era, a time, and the question will be, even though they managed to come up with musicals like spam-a lot, even though they managed to come up with all sorts of things, will this work when played in the

arena in front of 20,000 people next summer. >> i don't know. trying to find some of that old magic. >> and, and, and! >> now for something completely different, as they used to say, they used to start the program off with that. now, for something completely different -- >> quest, love you. keep your day job. >> listen. americans loved python more than the brits. >> why? >> i don't know. i have never bothered to think about it. >> it's a cult following, like you love it, you embrace it, or you don't know who they are. >> yes, or you're a certain age and you have forgotten all about them in the first place. >> i suppose. richard quest, thank you very much. >> now to something completely different. >> and now, this. a game changing shakeup in the senate, ditching rules once considered sank rusankt. they have unleased the nuclear option today to end filibusters for most executive nominees

here. political implications are reverberating across washington. president obama said both parties are to blame for creating this filibuster epidemic. >> it's heaarmed our economy an it's been harmful to our democracy, and it's brought us to the point where a simple majority vote no longer seems to be sufficient for anything. even routine business. through what is supposed to be the world's greatest deliberative body. i realize that neither party has been blameless. for these tactics. they have developed over years, and it seems as if they have continually escalated. but today's pattern of obstruction, it just isn't normal. it's not what our founders envisioned. >> so here is a quick explainer on the math behind the so-called nuclear option. there are 55 democrats in the

united states senate right now, 45 republicans. before democrats voted just a couple hours ago to change the rules in this historic moment, you needed 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, where they put the brakes on senate business. this nuclear option blew that up, totally changed the rule, lowered the number from 60 to 51. that's the simple majority, for most nominees except supreme court nominees specifically. 51 votes wins simple majority. let's talk to two folks on this. chief political correspondent, host of "state of the union" candy youby and jeff toobin to help put this in perspective. before we talk about the history that was made, i'm curious, why even call this a nuclear option? where did that come from? >> the nuclear option is the nuclear option because everybody knew that if the rules were changed, if the filibuster rules were changed, it would cause an

explosion on capitol hill in terms of ill will. that -- and, you know, you can say, how much worse can it get? i guess we'll see. the truth is you now have people, i think, as our dana bash was reporting, people like lindsey graham and john mccain, who have been willing to work across the aisle on issues like immigration, et cetera, going, you're going to regret this. >> this is a crisis. >> absolutely. that's how it got its name. everyone knew it would blow up the aura on capitol hill. >> and jeff toobin, this is a big deal. a big deal when you think big picture in terms of the president's -- >> absolutely. in the united states, president obama has had five nominations. four of them have been

filibustered. that's for the supreme court. there are four current supreme court justices, john roberts, john thomas, scalia, and ruth bader ginsburg who used to serve on the court. as a result of today's decision, obama is going to have to -- >> it's all over the country. it will be part of his legacy. >> okay, candy, let's make this point because to be fair, this is something that the democrats, i talked to richard blumenthal, democrat from connecticut. he said this is absolutely a step in the right direction. we heard from the president saying this is going to end the trend of obstructionism, but it was republicaned not too long ago who wanted the same thing, correct? >> yes, yes. we have a lot of bipartisan

hypocrisy, during the bush administration, and we should say the democrats are right, it has certainly escalated during the presidency of barack obama. the obstructing judges, obstructing other nominees that have to go through capitol hill. but nonetheless, republicans felt very much the same way during a portion of the bush administration. and democrats were arguing against it. including those that you're hearing today arguing for it, saying this has gone too far. they're taking it a whole new level, et cetera. one of those was then-senator barack obama. so it is like all politics. you know, the shoe's also on the other foot because eventually, everyone knows that the democrats will be in the minority in the senate at some point. and i think one of the things that, yes, it is about, that we should never underestimate what jeffrey was just saying, which is courts are so important in the long term, in terms of the legacy of a president, not just

the supreme court, but the circuit courts and on down. and you're able to put folks in there that are liberal or conservative depending on your presidency, but we should also say that minorities have used these nominees sometimes, not because they're against the nomnay, but because they need something. lindsey graham recently started a thing where he said, look, i'm deg to put a hold on all nominations until they give me more benghazi information. >> right. >> so it's leverage. so why would you do that? he said it's the only leverage i've got. it takes a powerful tool away from the minority. not just a blocked nomination, but to get stuff done. >> that's what the president said. he said, look, some of the filibusters is just to gum up the system. it's about politics and to your point, it goes both ways. always a pleasure. you can watch candy each and every sunday on state of the union, and jeffrey toobin, appreciate you as well. let's toik to talk about this,

because this controversial and historic rule change may make things worse in terms of bipartisanship in washington, d.c. people have bickered over problems stemming from filibuster rules. this is an unprecedented maneuver, so how are republican senators reacting? let's talk to one. republican senator orrin hatch, senator hatch, pleasure to have you back on. nice to see you, sir. >> nice to see you. nice to be on with you. >> what about the president's point, we heard him from the white house not too long ago, talking about the increased gridlock, saying there have been too many filibusters in his term by the minority party, that your party, as i mentioned, doing this not for substance but to gum up the system. what say you? >> i don't think so. as a matter of fact, this whole exercise, look, this is a use of just raw political power to get what they want on the part of

the democrats. and there's one reason they did it. they wanted to get away from being pummeled on obama care where they're getting shredded alive by people all over the country because of the lousy bill that they passed. and they passed it by a totally partisan vote. so this is just another way of creating some controversy so they can get by on obama care and get through and not have the american people -- >> is this not -- is this not something that your party wanted to do under president bush, not too many years ago? the shoe is just on the other foot now. >> not really. we didn't pass a bill with 60 republicans that everybody knows is a lousy sticking bill that is gumming up the country and hurting our country, and no, that's what's behind all of this. and these people were willing to change the rules, break the rules to change the rules. let me tell you, nobody's ever done that before. and you know, in all honesty, filibustering judges started with democrats.

i know that jeff toobin mentioned john roberts. it took 11 years for us to get roberts through the senate judiciary committee. i can tell you, almost 75% of all filibusters have been by democrats. and so it's really hypocritical for them to seize this moment and use it in this way so they can hopefully get the public off their backs with regard to obama care. >> i hear you. you call it a lousy sticking bill. i talked to a democratic senator last hour who says, no, that's not in case. let me play some sound. this is richard blumenthal. >> it will enable the senate to get things done. it will promote government working as the majority of americans expect it to work. the overwhelming majority of americans expect majority rule. i'm very glad that we now will be able to avoid a constitutional crisis. >> what do you make of his point?

that most americans support that? >> well, spoken by somebody who hasn't ever been in the minority. see, that's the problem here. a high percentage of democrats have never served in the minority. they don't realize how important these bills are -- these particular rules are. and of course, they're suffering because the american people are turning against them because of obama care. if they can create a false issue here, which it really is, and get people off of obama care, they wanted to do that. i happen to like senator blumenthal, but you know, you have to talk to people who have been here year after year after year. there are a number of democrats who are very, very concerned. >> that was senator mccain's point earlier today. right? specifically talking about the freshman members of the senate. let's flash forward and play the what if game. in 2016, let's say your guy wins the white house. let's sigh your party wins control of the senate. wouldn't you be singing another tube? >> well, i hope not, because in

all honesty, we wouldn't be using it to cover up something that we're afraid the public finding out about. which is exactly what they're doing. and they're doing it in a shameless fashion. i've got to tell you, it was raw political power. there was a lot of misinformation on this. the rules are really important. they were the first to gum up the rules in this area. and frankly, what they did today was shameless. and all because they want to get off the subject of obama care. that's really what's behind all this. >> okay, senator orrin hatch, appreciate your time. thank you very, very much. republican from utah. coming up, it sounds eerily similar to the ariel castro case out of cleveland, but this time, the story is that police rescue these three women appeared to have been held captive for 30 years. how a television show helped in that rescue. hat is coming up. >> also, 50 years ago, kennedy

assassin lee harvey oswald was arrested. he was shot while he was in handcu handcuffs, and that dallas police officer who was handcuffed to him, he joins me in minutes. do not miss that. >> also, have you seen this? police are calling it the knockout game. teens punching random people in the face. they're obviously rolling it on video and cameras. what kind of trend is this? is this a bunch of hype? is this real. a lot going on today. stay right here.

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she and two other women were being held captive in a home in london for three decades. >> thooe women, a 69-year-old from malaysia, a 57-year-old from ireland, and a 30-year-old british woman were all rescued. all three women were highly traumatized and were taken to a place of safety where they remain. y we have established that all three women were held in this situation for at least 30 years. they did have some controlled freedom. the human trafficking unit of the metropolitan police deals with many cases of servitude and forced labor. we have seen some cases where people have been held for up to ten years, but we have never seen anything of this magnitude before. >> the victimyoungest of the vi the 30-year-old british woman, spent her entire life as a slave, had zero contact with the outside world until the call

came into the freedom charity. >> they basically told us they were being held and they needed support to come out of a very difficult situation. as a charity, we take every call very seriously. we have a 24/7 help line which they contacted. from that moment onward, it was very sensitive negotiations in order to help them in escaping. >> hearing from the detective they're highly traumatized, no shock there, but what can you tell me about the women? what can you tell me about these 30 years in captivity? >> we don't have that many details except for what we heard from the police and the charity. again, that phrase controlled freedom. it's not clear exactly how they were held against their will, but according to the charity that negotiated their way out, they say they were extremely terrified of the couple that was arrested earlier this morning, and this couple sort of apparently were kind of like the head of the family there.

we don't know much about the suspects either, other than the fact it's a 67-year-old man and a 67-year-old woman, and they're arrested at 7:30 in the morning. what we do know about the women is they do not appear to be related to each other in any way and that the 30-year-old, as you pointed out, seems to have grown up entirely in the house. we don't know if she was born there or brought there as a very young infant. >> just as we learned with cleveland, the details will eke out. what about the home itself, though? was this in a remote area of south london? did they have neighbors? could people have seen them? >> they ahad plenty of neighbor. this is a densely populated part of london. a lot of people live there. the way it was described by the charity was an ordinary home on an ordinary street. it's not clear what the conditions were inside the house. one of the interesting things is the charity had to have

prearranged phone times to talk to these women and basically coax them out of the house. they walked to their freedom, where the charity and the police were standing by. so we're still really trying to understand what exactly kept them in the house. >> atika shubert, thank you so much for us in london. >> coming up, congressman trey radel headed to rehab instead of jail after being charged with misdemeanor cocaine possession, and he's kind of following a familiar template. apology, rehab, redemption. should he have apologized at all? also, 50 years ago tomorrow, president john f. kennedy was assassinated. his assassin, lee harvey oswald, who was shot while in handcuffs, the man handcuffed to him joins me live with a pretty incredible story, next. was broken into. and since we can't monitor everything 24/7, we got someone who could. adt.

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[ beep ] gotta go. ♪ this is an incredible story. one dallas detective dedicated his career to catching killers. for decades, jim has regretted not being able to save one. and this killer was the man who thrust the nation into deep mourning, 50 years ago tomorrow, when he shot and killed president kennedy. >> he's been shot. he's been shot. >> jim lavelle, he is the man in the white hat and suit who was

handcuffed right there to lee harvey oswald when he was shot. lavelle nearly died that day himself. now at age 93, he's part of this fascinating new documentary to be aired on the military channel that chronicles the capture and killing of jfk's assassin. really impressive detective work on behalf of dallas p drk. it's called capturing oswald. it comes from a unique perspective. lavelle's granddaughter produced it. jim and his granddaughter kate join me. thank you for joining me. >> thank you. >> i should point out, talk about incredible circumstances, you were also at pearl harbor when it was attacked. just an aside for our viewers. here you were, you were handcuffed to oswald, and once again, you escaped death, and you believe, sir, let me hear the story from you. it's because of lee harvey oswald's rib that you lived. explain. >> i was handcuffed to him

because we had so many threats that they were going to take him away from us and do all sorts of bad things to him, so i decided to handcuff myself to him. if they tried to take him, they would have to take me, too. and i wasn't going willingly, so they were going to have a little problem. that was the reason for me being handcuffed to him. >> so that shot, sir, it came through oswald's, was it stomach and hit a rib? and had it not hit the rib, what would have happened? >> well, it went through him, went through the stomach, back, and hit an artery on the right side and then hit the end of the seventh rib, i believe. bounced off and then it landed about three inches to the right of his naval, and had the not hit the rib, it would have hit me roughly in my left side, just above the hip joint. >> my goodness. can you just take me back, sir, to the moment that the shot was

fired, this man you're cuffed to goes down. what did that feel like? >> well, it felt like i ought to be somewhere else, but i wasn't, so the fact is when he fell, went down, of course, he lapsed into unconsciousness immediately. i reached over and grabbed him by the shoulder and started backing down, and the other officers jumped on him and crushed him to the ground. but my big concern was trying to save my prisoner. that was the reason i handcuffed myself to him, to try to save him. >> ruby, the man who fired the shot that killed oswald, and kate, i promise i'm going to get to you, but i'm fascinated by your grandfather. >> most people are. >> at what point did it dawn on you that you had been talking to the man who assassinated the president? >> when i began first talking to

him, no, i did not realize he was a man who assassinated the breads. he was assigned to me because i was assigned to the murder of tippet. so anybody arrested in connection to tippet's murder was assigned to me. that's why i was his officer that questioned him. and when i was talking to him, he denied shooting anybody. but at that time, i didn't realize that he was going to be the also expected in the presidential assassination. >> in terms of the detective work, kate, i understand part of the 31thrust of your documentar on the heroism of the dallas police department, because this was 1963, right? the technology wasn't what we have today. >> correct. i mean, it's an astounding accomplishment to capture anyone in 88 minutes, but to capture the assassin of the president in

83 minutes in 1963 is remarkable. the men in the story are largely overshadowed and overlooked by conspiracy theories, and there's never been something that chronicles the perspective oof the dallas police department and what we were able to do is talk to the vigilant citizens that aided in the capture, my grandfather and his colleagues and the police beat reporters who really made this possible. >> and mr. lavelle, will you be in dealey plaza tomorrow? i understand this is a really emotional day for so many. how will you be spending the day tomorrow? >> well, much like i am right now, i'll be making a live interview tomorrow. and i also will be talking before a group of people in the city of garland who gather on the square. and i'll be talking to them also. >> what does this feel like, though, sir, 50 years later, talking about this moment that went don't wn in the nation's

history you were so intrinzically linked to this in so many ways. what does it feel like right now in 2013 for you. >> well, i don't know how to explain that. been questioned about this for the last 50 years. so this is nothing new, really. everywhere i go, i get questioned about it. i even get recognized on the street and stopped and questioned about it. i get recognized in airports when i fly. >> wow. >> so it's nothing new. it's all the same. >> all the same. what a role you played. little did you know 50 years ago, jim lavelle, thank you so much, and kate, thank you very much as well. for spending the time with us today here at cnn. america changed forever 50 years ago tomorrow, and now cnn puts you on the ground in dallas, texas, please watch the assassination of jfk. it airs tonight at 9:00 eastern and pacific here on cnn. >> and later, charges have been dropped against two teenage

girls accused of bullying a florida girl who later committed suicide. after being accused of a crime like that and then having the charges dropped, what happens now? and congressman trey radel apologizing for his recent arrest for cocaine possession and not stepping down. will the american people forgive him? does there need to even be an apology to his constituents in the first place? we're going to tackle that. you're watching cnn. for all those who sleep too hot or too cool,

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after all, when you're going the distance, it's nice to have the experience and commitment to go along with you. keep dreaming. keep doing. go long. congressman trey radel, busted for trying to buycocaine. he's headed to rehab instead of jail. vowing to be a better man. he admitted to an adduction. he apologized to his family and to his constituents. >> i have let down our country. i've let down our constituents, i've let down my family, including my wife. and even though he doesn't i've son. i have been getting the help i need, and i will continue to get the help i need. and the support system i need

for years to come. >> the court has placed him on one year probation, as part of the whole plea deal. his salary, he's donating it to charity. as for his office, it will stay open. radel giving no indication he has any plan to resign. joining me now, josh barrow, politics editor for business insider and john avlon, cnn political analyst. with the news week daily beast. josh, i have to begin with you because we're all talking about the piece you wrote. here's the thing. you say, the crux of your message is he doesn't need to apologize to his constituents, doesn't need to apologize to americans. but this is an elected member. he tried buying this illegal drug. why doesn't he need to apologize and then some? >> who did he harm? we haven't seen any evidence that his cocaine use or outside negative hobbies have affected his job performance.

i think you could look at someone like rob ford, who clearly has a substance abuse problem. >> wouldn't you have issues with your job if you were caught doing this. i'm say saying? >> i think that would be between me and my employer. i don't care about my public officials, what they do in the off time, so long as it doesn't affect their job performance. >> john, the bigger question to you, are we a forgiving constituency when it comes to say somebody's behavior when it comes to sex, think of bill clinton. perhaps when it comes to drugs? >> yeah. >> what do you think of this? >> well, you know, there's no question we have become more permissive and forgiving as a society about politicians' pick adilloes, probably largely thanks to bill clinton who made the case in the wake of monica cue inslewinsky, this was a personal failing that didn't affect his job performance. we bought that, but drugs,

getting busted for cocaine is satotally different arena. it's a somewhat uncharted territory in congress. we had a heck of a week of it with the mayor from toronto, but look, josh is making a point based on his belief that drugs should be legalized. i appreciate that point. but given that drugs aren't legalized and given this guy was sworn to uphold the law, that's hypocrisy. >> josh, respond to that. >> absolutely, it is hypocritical, and he shouldn't have voted to submitting food stamp recipients to drug policies. very few of the tests come back positive. he didn't have a special obligation as somebody who uses cocaine to vote no on that. everyone should have voted no. i think we obsess to much about hypocrisy. we should look at people's job performance, what they're doing to serve the country, and

evaluate whether this is negative lee impacting the job he's doing for his constituents, rather than just criticizing for him because we have some objection to this behavior. >> looking at the past, the distant past, let's say drugs specifically, help explain to people why he wasn't suspended immediately. we're talking one-year probation. that's what he got from the judge, but was this not a crime? >> i hate it when that happens. josh, let's go to you. >> yeah, well, i mean, it was a misdemeanor in the district of columbia. there's some states like florida, where i'm sitting right now, where it would have been a felony. my understanding is he didn't have to leave office and he can come back when he's done with his rehab, and then the residents of his district will decide whether to send him back for another term. >> sorry, i had somebody in my ear telling me john was back,

just like that, magic. okay, let's just leave it there. let's call it a day. josh barrow and john avlon, thank you so much for joining me, both. guess it's up to the constituents. >> coming up, have you seen this? people are calling it the knockout game. teens punching random people in the face. and recording it. what's going on? is this truly a horrific trend? is it a bunch of hype? we'll talk about that. and charges were dropped against those two teenage girls accused of bullying a florida teen who later committed suicide after being accused of a crime like that and having the charges dropped, now their face is plastered all over. what happens next for them? we're on the case. the was a truly amazing day. without angie's list, i don't know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley.

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criminal charges against 13 and 14-year-old girls accused of bullying a classmate to her death are dropped. these girls were charged with aggravated stalking in the case of rebecca said wj. she was all of 12 when she jumped to her death at an abandoned concrete plant. the sheriff who filed the charges said he has no regrets, but he may not be off the hook when it comes to being sued, because an attorney representing one of the girls is saying lawyer up. >> sheriff grady wanted to give me legal advice on how to practice law. i have advice for him. he should get a lawyer and a darn good one because he's going to need it. >> attorney jose baez said filing charges against his client was reckless, and showing her photo at a news conference

last month, reckless as well. so, let's broaden this out. on the case, joey jackson, and cnn legal analyst sunny hostin. so to both ow yorx gof you, goo both of you. sunny, to you, these mug shots were everywhere. they were shown to the public. these are just minors. this is the sheriff's defense to that. >> florida public records law says when you commit a felony, your name and your face is public record. bullying is a national epidemic. this went even beyond bullying to cyberstalking. let's don't lose focus that we have a 12-year-old child that's dead. >> does the sheriff have a point there, sunny? >> well, he certainly has a point in the sense that florida does allow the photos, the mugshots of juveniles, to be disseminated.

he didn't do anything illegal in that sense because it's lawful to do that in florida. what does seem to be problematic, is the fact that he did make all of these sort of statements that could be considered defamatory in saying they cyberstalked, almost being the judge and the jury in this particular case, and remember, brooke, the government, the prosecution, never filed charges. they were arrested. they had these mugshots, but the government never filed charges. i spoke to jose baez about this today. he said after reviewing 24,000 pages of facebook entries, not any sort of bullying, stalking entry, was found to exist. now you have the sheriff saying a lot of things that appear not to have been true. that opens him up to some exposure. >> joey, the charges didn't stick. now you have these young, young teenagers whose faces have been plastered all over. what legal recourse could they have? >> yeah, i mean, it's a major

problem. and the problem is the public officer's law would indeed allow for the publication to the extent they were children engaged in arguably an adult act, and it would constitute a felony. however, the issue is that the case is dismissed. it's over, to the extent there's not charges that were leveled against them, that becomes a problem because now the public, they have been exposed to the public. indeed, there have been many statements made about their conduct, as sunny alluded to, and we don't know the voracity of the statements. we could discern they were probably false because they weren't charged. you would think there may be a lawsuit. if you listen to jose baez, certainly, when he's talking to the sheriff, you think one is forthcoming. >> go ahead, sunny. >> i will say, yeah, i spoke to him again earl yetoday. they're looking at all options. they're even thinking about criminal actions. and they're researching it, and they're thinking about perhaps making a recommendation to florida law enforcement, and

they are also thinking about the civil suit against the sheriff in particular. when i asked him, you know, that's difficult because most law enforcement officers are sort of shrouded with immunity. however, he says, but if he acted outside of the scope of his office, you know, making these types of statements, that would lead him to have some exposure. i have to tell you, you know, jose has a pretty good track record so far. >> he does. he does. stay in touch with him and let us know of course what action if in fact they take any. sunny hostin, joey jackson. my thanks to you. >> i want to get this in, just in to us here at cnn, the fcc is proposing new rules to allow use of cell phones in flight. this is big. this is on the heels of the faa allowing passengers to keep those cell phones turned on during takeoff and landing just as long as you have it in airplane mode. this is a statement we have gotten. modern technologies have deliver mobile services in the air safely and reliably, and the time is right to review our

outdated and restrictive rules. we'll keep you updated. just imagine, people on their cell phones in a flight. coming up next, a frightening and deadly trend called the knockout game where people on the streets are randomly targeted, sucker punched? what's behind this? is it real?

it is frightening, deadly game that could be growing in popularity. this is called the knockout game. uf these people running up to strangers like this man, look at him in the spotlight there, this 53-year-old school teacher is sucker punched with the one hit or quit running off. what's frightening is teens apparently do it for no reason. victims are not robbed. this game not only has police in at least six east coast states on edge, it has people like you and me maybe a little worried what can happen while you're walking home. let's talk about this. listen, i don't even know if this is a trend.

i don't even know if we can go there. i don't know how many people are clicking on this stuff. clinical psychologist jeff gardere joining me. my first question is what kind of person, teenager, whatnot, why would you do this? first of all, why would you do this and second of all, post it online for internet notoriety? i don't get it. >> well, i think obviously these are young people who have dead end lives, who have no real goals, who have no educational objectives, and they're doing this to get a thrill, to prove their manhood or womanhood. part of peer pressure. certainly they are followers and not leaders. of course, putting this on youtube, their little bit of immortality and they are getting some real excitement from that. >> they are getting excitement, they are getting clicks. who are the people clicking on these videos? >> these are people who are voyeurs who want to see this

real life violence. with all the violence we have in the world that we can see in the media, we have been very much desensitized to it. we don't want to see the fantasy. we don't want to see the video games. now we get to see it in real life and real time. this i think is part of the dangerous trend and that gives that positive reinforcement that these young people are looking for. it's the wrong kind of reinforcement, obviously. >> perhaps it's sort of some kind of addiction, a thrill, a cheap thrill. >> that's right. >> i know it's tough to find these people, but how would one -- why would one even stop doing this? >> i think you would want to stop doing it because it's something that can get you in a lot of trouble. a lot of people start doing it because they need some real meaning in their lives and right -- >> they don't have that. that is downright sad. >> obviously. and i think the way we are going

to put an end to this, some people are going to have to be jailed. we don't want to see any more deaths coming from this, brooke, but this is more than a trend. this is something that's obviously, i think, psychopathic. >> thank you, sir. >> my pleasure. coming up, a gay player in the nfl, maybe. a report says the league was very, very close to having its first player come out but the plan apparently fell apart. an nfl insider tells me why. [ woman ] we had two tiny reasons

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three minutes away from the closing bell. we sneak a peek at the big board and i can tell you the markets, positive territory, up 109 points right here and flirting with that 16,000 mark here. hit the record earlier this week. we'll keep an eye on that. minutes away from the closing bell. let's talk football. america has yet to see a man who plays in the national football league say, come right out while playing and say i'm gay but apparently, we are very, very close to seeing that happen. that is what nfl national lead writer michael freeman says in his new story on the bleacher report. an nfl team had decided yes, a player had decided yes. it was supposed to be a done deal but that hasn't happened

yet. mike freeman, tell me why. >> why, brooke, it's a combination of things. the main thing was i think that teams got a little nervous. i think jason collins' announcement, when that came out, as you know, it was one of the biggest stories of the year, him doing that. it was a lot of attention, a lot of media attention, and it sort of scared some teams away. that was a big, big reason why. there are other reasons but that was one of the biggest why. >> it's interesting, when we covered jason collins, he was on the cover of "sports illustrated," wrote that incredible article, whether it's an issue of fear in the locker room or an issue of fear from the fans. what do you think? >> i think it's a little bit of both. i think it's more in the locker room. look, we've seen, you've covered what's happened in miami with the bullying situation. imagine a gay player coming out in that sort of situation, how bad that could have been. i think it's more that. i think the concern is for a gay player in particular who is

thinking about coming out, do i come out, what are my teammates going to be like, how will they treat me, how will fans treat me, how will coaches treat me, am i going to lose endorsements, what's going to happen. all those things. >> 60 seconds. you say in your report the nfl and the union, they absolutely know of gay players through other players and coaches as well. what's the chain of command? communication? >> i just think they hear from other players who is gay, who is -- and what they really want to do a lot of the people that work in the league, the union, they want to protect some of these guys so they sort of keep it secret. but there are teams that want know the identities of gay players just because nfl teams, as you know, they're real paranoid. they want to know every fact so they really want to know every bit of information they can about players. >> ten seconds. you mentioned what's happened in miami. do you think this will happen in the next year or two?

>> i think it will happen in a couple years. not sooner than that but in a couple years. i used to think 15, 20 years but we've moved so rapidly. i think it will come sooner than later. >> thank you so much, sir, for joining me. that will do it. let's send you to washington. "the lead" with jake tapper starts right now. you think the iranians are nervously watching television and saying what's all this talk about a nuclear option? i'm jake tapper. this is "the lead." the politics lead. senate democrats hitting the red button, stripping republicans of one of their most powerful weapons in the senate. will the democrats live to regret it? the world lead. iran looking at a nuclear option of a much more literal sort today. secretary of state john kerry claiming a deal is close to roll back iran's nuclear program but we have been hearing that for weeks. also in politics, i must be slipping. we're almost a full minute into the show and i haven't mentioned chris christie's 2016 prospects yet. the new jersey governor becomes